The Filtered Excellence: February 5, 2015
Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Here are this weeks picks of the best things to watch, the most interesting things to do, great things to try, the best picks to read, our favorite things to listen to and more:
WATCH THIS:
Schitt’s Creek. Eugene Levy co-created this series for the new POP TV cable network and it’s already getting a strong buzz. Levy plays video store magnate Johnny Rose, who seems to have it all: Enormous wealth, a soap star wife (Catherine O’Hara) and two grown children, David (played by Levy’s real life son Daniel) and Alexis (Annie Murphy). When faulty accounting leaves the family broke, they must retreat to the only piece of property the IRS will allow them to keep: Schitt’s Creek, a backwoods town that Johnny bought in the 90s as a joke. It’s there where they must adjust to being among the low rung of the 99% and deal with the town’s creepy mayor and namesake Roland Schitt (Chris Elliot). Levy breathes new life into the fish out of water concept with sharp dialogue and a pace that never slows down for a minute. It’s also great to see him back on the screen with fellow SCTV alum Catherine O’Hara, who brings the funny in every project she’s involved with. The always irreverent Chris Elliot looks like he’s having a blast as Roland Schitt and finds new ways to make awkward and uncomfortable funny. This is a great new series that perfectly in tune with the times. Schitt’s Creek premieres February 11th on POP TV.
You can go to www.poptv.com for more information.
The 57th Annual Grammy Awards. The self-proclaimed biggest night in music returns with host LL Cool J to hand out gramophone trophies to the year’s best artists. In the big category of the evening, Record of the Year, the nominees are “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli XCX, “Chandelier” by Sia, “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)” from Sam Smith,
“Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift (who won’t be performing) and “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor. As for the performance portion of the evening, there will be a salute to 25 time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder. Other performers include Katy Perry just off of her big Super Bowl gig, Beyonce, Pharrell Williams who has 6 Grammy nominations headed into the night, Miranda Lambert, Madonna and Kanye West doing a solo number and also appearing with Paul McCartney and Rihanna. The Grammys will also continue their tradition of unique duets with the combinations Annie Lennox and Hozier, Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Tom Jones and Jessie J, Beck and Chris Martin and Brandy Clark and Dwight Yoakam. The 57th annual Grammys is Sunday, February 8th at 8pm et on CBS.
For more information and a complete list of nominees, go to grammy.com
ESPN 30 For 30: Of Miracles and Men. “Do you believe in miracles!?” That was the now famous call of Team USA’s incredible hockey upset victory over the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. While Americans swelled with patriotism, there was another side to that sporting event. The Russian side. In this latest installment of ESPN’s 30 for 30 sports documentaries, director Jonathan Hock travels across all of Russia to catch up with the players who were on the other side of the ice from the Americans in that Olympic match. He explores how their lives changed forever by being beat by Team USA. The shame they felt and how what they went through in their homeland didn’t stop at the end of the Olympic games. This is what they endured having let down Mother Russia after a game they were not only expected to win, but to dominate. “Of Miracles and Men” shows that the Soviet team weren’t the machines they were made out to be, but also men. ESPN 30 For 30: Of Miracles and Men premieres Sunday, February 8th at 9pm et on ESPN.
For more information, go to espn.com
Watch the trailer for ESPN 30 For 30: Of Miracles and Men
Matt Shepard Is A Friend Of Mine. It was one of the most shocking hate crimes in recent memory. On October 7, 1998, University Of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was found brutally beaten, tied to a fence and left to die. He would die of head injuries five days later. Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were tried and convicted for Shepherd’s murder and are currently serving life sentences. The suspects tried to establish robbery as their primary motive, but it was later revealed that their actions were motivated in part because Shepard was gay. The case was a turning point in the LGBT movement, leading to hate crime legislation – called the Matthew Shepard Act – that was signed into law by President Obama in 2009. Michele Josue, a close friend of Shepard, uses never before seen photos, rare video footage and remembrances from family and friends to paint a poignant portrait of a young man whose death came to define a movement. Matt Shepard Is A Friend Of Mine opens in select theaters on Friday and nationwide February 13th.
You can go to www.mattshepardisafriendofmine.com for more information.
1971. On March 8, 1971, a robbery took place that would shake the foundations of our government. A group calling themselves the Citizens’ Commission To Investigate The FBI broke into and removed every file in an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania. They Anonymously arriving in newsrooms across the country, the files uncovered the FBI’s vast – and highly illegal – campaign to suppress civil rights and anti-war movements. It was the first time Americans heard of COINTELPRO, an illegal counter intelligence program that was personally overseen by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The details revealed in these documents also led to the first Congressional investigation of U.S. intelligence agencies in the country’s history. Despite one of its most intensive manhunts in FBI history, the burglars were never caught and those responsible never revealed their identities. Until now. Director Johanna Hamilton uses exclusive interviews with the burglars, primary documents from the break-in and the investigation, archival news footage and dramatic re-creations of events to paint a fascinating portrait of how eight ordinary citizens blew the whistle on a government agency infringing on basic First Amendment rights. 1971 opens in New York this weekend and will roll out in various theaters nationwide in subsequent weeks.
You can go to www.1971film.com for additional information.
Mad As Hell. As the founder and host of the news show The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur brand of blunt, tell it like it is journalism, helped reshape how news is presented and distributed – often to the ire of traditional news outlets. In this searing new documentary, Andrew Napier shows how Uygur went an unknown hosting a Public Access TV show, to YouTube sensation and ultimately landing what he thought would be a dream gig on MSNBC. Napier gets a rare look into how the inner workings of a major news network and how Uygur’s take no prisoners approach put him in the cross hairs in the political and network TV arena – including the very network who employed him. It’s a documentary that is as open and upfront as its topic. Mad Is Hell opens in New York and L.A. on Friday and available now via Video On Demand.
You can also go to www.madashellfilm.com to find out more info.
LISTEN TO THIS:
Tomorrow Is My Turn by Rihannon Giddens. To celebrate the release of the film Inside Llewyn Davis, soundtrack producer T-Bone Burnett assembled an all-star cast of musicians, singers and songwriters at New York’s Town Hall to perform the music that inspired the film. Featured artists included Elvis Costello, Jack White, Joan Baez, Gillian Welch, and Conor Oberst among many others. But it was Rihannon Giddens, the lead vocalist/banjo/violinist for Carolina Chocolate Drops who stole the show with fiery renditions of ‘Waterboy’ and the traditional Celtic song ‘S’iomadh Rid The Dhith Om / Ciamar A Ni Mi’, which the North Carolina native sang in its original language. Burnett, who was equally blown away by Giddens vocal range and expansive musical vocabulary, took her into the studio to produce her solo debut. The album and continues to mine the rich American songbook, easily weaving through traditional folk, gospel, European pop, jazz and blues – all of which showcase Giddens remarkable vocals. Giddens didn’t write any of the material, but she completely makes it her own. We’re only a month into 2015, but here’s an candidate for one of the year’s best.
Tomorrow Is My Turn
NPR is also streaming the album for a limited time.
Shadows In The Night by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan has always gone against the grain. Always. Never stayed in the lane. He’s gone electric, country, gospel, pop, even flirted with hip hop (working with Full Force on his 1988 album Down In The Groove). So it was no surprise – or perhaps it was – that after a string of remarkable albums over the last 15 years, his Bobness has decided that his 36th album was going to feature songs that were made famous by Frank Sinatra. You heard right: Bob Dylan is singing the likes of Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin and Cy Coleman. Even more surprising is that it works. Recording at the legendary Capitol Studios (the same studios where Sinatra recorded all of those classic tracks), Dylan doesn’t try to drown the songs with heavy production and orchestration. Instead, he uses his seasoned touring band to back him with pedal steel guitarist Donnie Herron filling in for strings. Also, the band finds its groove by mining the blues rather than jazz. Dylan shows great reverence for the material placing proper emphasis on the lyric where its needed and channeling his own life experiences into each song. Make no mistake about it, Dylan is straight up crooning. It’s a odd left turn but a rewarding one.
Shadows In The Night
You can also go to www.bobdylan.com for tour dates and additional info.
DO THIS:
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: Rod Stewart: The Hits. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and multiple Grammy Award winner Rod Stewart will be at Caesar’s Palace – Las Vegas with a 13 piece orchestra and just doing the “hits”. Rod will be going through his 50 year plus catalog of his most popular and best selling numbers including “Maggie May,” “You Wear it Well,” “Hot Legs,” “You’re in My Heart,” “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” “Tonight’s The Night” and “Some Guys Have All the Luck”. And if you’re a soccer fan like Rod Stewart is, you may go home with a ball. He’s been known to kick a few into the audience while performing. Rod Stewart: The Hits is at Caesar’s Palace – Las Vegas Friday, February 6th and Saturday, February 7th at 7:30pm.
For tickets and more information, go to caesars.com
WASHINGTON DC: Leon Russell. The amazing entertainer who has covered every genre of music as a session musician, singer, songwriter, producer and record company owner, Leon Russell is coming to DC. Russell has worked with an incredible amount of music legends in different collaborative projects. He’s worked with, written for or produced acts like the Rolling Stones, Jan & Dean, Joe Cocker, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, BB King, The Byrds, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and many many more. He’s also enjoyed a great solo career as well. Leon Russell is bringing all that musical know-how to the stage. He is live at The Hamilton in Washington DC on Wednesday, February 11th at 7:30pm. Door open at 6:30pm.
For more information and tickets to the show, go to thehamiltondc.com
BOSTON, MA: The Films of Stanley Kubrick. Starting February 4 through February 28 the MFA in Boston will be showing a complete chronological survey of Stanley Kubrick’s works. If you are new to Kubrick, looking to see the evolution of the great director’s style or actors he’s chosen to use in these pieces this survey is not to be missed. Each movie will have at least two viewings and some as much as four.
To find out times and dates read more at mfa.org.
NEW YORK CITY: Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York 1968-1986 at Film Society At Lincoln Center. For Black History Month, The Film Society Of Lincoln Center will present a two-week retrospective of New York-based Black filmmakers who bucked the system and produced seminal works that defined independent and mainstream cinema. Highlights include Losing Ground, written and directed by Kathleen Collins, one of the first Black women to write/direct an independent film; a salute to William Graves, a pioneering filmmaker whose film Sybiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One is considered a landmark in indie cinema; Ganja & Hess, Bill Gunn’s 1973 re-imaging of the vampire genre that was recently remade by Spike Lee; and Lee is represented in the series with two films: His 1986 debut She’s Gotta Have It and his NYU Masters Thesis project Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. There will also be short films, live Q&A’s, documentaries from some of the great unsung heroes of cinema.
You can go to www.filmlinc.com for a complete rundown of films, show times and much more.
NEW YORK CITY: Meshell Ndegeocello: A Dedication To Nina Simone at Jazz At Lincoln Center 2/11. Lincoln Center’s acclaimed American Songbook Series continues with Meshell Ndegeocello exploring the rich catalog of The High Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone. Ndegeocello is no strange to Simone’s work, often citing her as an major influence with her 2012 album Pour une Ame Souveraine featured material written by and made famous by the late singer. Ndegeocello’s shows are always sublime and given the material, this shouldn’t be any different. A fitting tribute to one of our most beloved and treasured artists. A Dedication To Nina Simone will be at Jazz At Lincoln Center on February 11th.
You can go to www.jazz.org for tickets and additional info.
NEW YORK CITY: Martha Redbone at Joe’s Pub. Acclaimed singer Martha Redbone brings her latest work, Bone Hill to Joe’s Pub as part of the New York Voices series. It’s a musical exploration of her Appalachian mining family’s heritage/history that covers several decades and multitude of genres. If her last project – a musical transformation of the works of William Blake – was any indication, this is going to be another mind blowing work. Martha Redbone will be at Joe’s Pub February 11, 13th and 14th.
You can go to www.joespub.publictheater.org for tickets and additional information.
NEW YORK CITY: Rosanne Cash at Tarrytown Music Hall. The Grammy-award winning singer/songwriter will be performing material from her recent album The River & The Thread. The eldest daughter of Johnny Cash and step-daughter to June Carter Cash isn’t just riding on the family name: Her career has spanned over four decades and has included 11 singles that topped the country charts. Cash’s writing isn’t just reserved for music either: Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone and The Oxford American. Cash’s 2010 memoir Composed was a New York Times best-seller and her posts on Twitter are some of the best on the platform. The River & The Thread is a piece that lyrically reconnects Cash with her Southern roots and was named one of 2014’s best albums. A wonderful chance to hear from one of a top notch singer-songwriter. Rosanne Cash will be at Tarrytown Music Hall on February 12th.
You can go to www.tarrytownmusichall.org for tickets and more info.
LOS ANGELES: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga. On paper, it shouldn’t work: The elder statesmen of The Great American Songbook teaming up with the Queen of Art-Po singing iconic works by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Duke Ellington. But their recent collaborations – first on Bennett’s Duets 2 album and more recently on their joint album Cheek To Cheek – doesn’t just work, it excels. So much so that they’ve hit the road for a full on tour. We all know that Bennett is one of the great vocalists of all time. But the real surprise is to see Gaga, stripped off all of the pop’s bells and whistles, have a chance to really let loose and shine as a traditional pop singer. She’s fire to Bennett’s ice and it sounds great. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga will bring that and more to L.A.’s Wiltern Theatre on February 8th.
You can go to www.wiltern.com for tickets and additional info.
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