Undated (AP) – Bret Michaels is recovering from kidney surgery and is still keeping his tour schedule.
His guitarist, Pete Evick, writes on Michaels’ website Michaels had two stents put in and still played his show in Memphis on Halloween.
Evick says he argued with Michaels about not doing the next show in Knoxville, but Michaels refused. Evick says Michaels was bleeding after the Knoxville show from jumping around with two stents, but Michaels insisted on playing Las Vegas on Friday.
Evick says Michael has been in and out of six hospitals in the past two weeks. He says Michaels is not postponing or canceling any shows and intends to play Jacksonville tomorrow.
NASHVILLE (AP) – Jason Aldean has taken his latest album off the digital music streaming service Spotify. His “Old Boots, New Dirt” album had been available on Spotify since it came out October 7. A Spotify spokesman confirms it’s no longer available on the service. Aldean’s previous albums are still on Spotify. His label has no comment. “Old Boots, New Dirt” had the biggest first week for a country album on Spotify, with more than three million streams. Aldean had even recorded a track-by-track commentary for Spotify listeners. Many musicians have complained that music-streaming services do not pay them fairly for use of their music.
TIOGA, Tex. (AP) – Randy Travis is making slow progress, according to his fiancee’. Mary Davis tells WFAA-TV Travis is starting to write and has signed guitars with his left hand. She notes, “Randy Travis has a new autograph!” Travis suffered congestive heart failure last year and then had a stroke. Davis says Travis walked 300 yards without a walking stick this week. She says Travis struggles with language but when it comes to music, he plays all the chords and knows all the words.
WASHINGTON (AP) – A tiny tree frog discovered in the Amazon has been named for Ozzy Osbourne.
National Geographic reports the creature nicknamed the “bat frog” has been named Dendropsophus ozzyi (den-DRUH’-suh-fus AH’-zee-eye).
It’s less than an inch long and has a shrill, batlike call.
Pedro Peloso, one of the frog’s discoverers, says they kept talking about the “bat frog” in the lab, which led to discussion about Osbourne and Black Sabbath.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Garth Brooks brought some light into the life of a fan with breast cancer. KARE-TV reports Teresa Shaw and her daughter traveled from Iowa to see Brooks’ show in Minneapolis Friday. She held up a sign that said, “Chemo this morning. Garth tonight. Enjoy the dance.” Brooks spotted the sign while performing the song “The Dance.” He sang to her, handed her his guitar and kissed her forehead. He then held the sing up and said he and everyone in the audience were sending strength so she could beat cancer.
UNDATED (AP) – Willie Nelson will be the host of a new TV show. He will host “Inside Arlyn Studios,” set in a recording studio in Austin, Texas. He will interview and sometimes sit in on performances by different musicians. Merle Haggard and Gary Clark Junior are the first guests. The show is filming pilot episodes but no network has picked up the series yet.
Before diving into my review of the long-awaited “Interstellar,” I want to briefly discuss a journey of my own. This past weekend I was in Anaheim, California for BlizzCon; a two day convention that celebrates all things Blizzard Entertainment, the video game company that makes “World of Warcraft” and several other award-winning, best-selling video game titles. I have been playing and have loved every product this company has released since before the the world starting worrying about Y2K.
A feature film, based upon Blizzard’s fantasy franchise “Warcraft” is currently in post-production and is set to open in March of 2016. Attendees at the convention were treated to a special first look of at the film, titled Warcraft,” even though the visual effects have yet to be completed. To any Blizzard fans reading this, trust me when I say, this movie looks incredible. The as-of-yet incomplete visual effects are already stunning and the production team has brought the world of Azeroth to life in a way that is both cinematically compelling and true to the origins of the games. I see a lot of movies, and am not sold easily; but I’m here to tell you that when March 2016 rolls around, “Warcraft” will be in the news.
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For many movie fans, the wait for the next Christopher Nolan movie is much like my personal wait for the next Blizzard game. Like many of Nolan’s previous works, including “Inception,” “The Prestige,” and “Memento,” “Interstellar” is a mind-romp that will leave your thoughts battered and bruised for days to come. That’s a great trait. I have so much admiration for a director that sets out to challenge audiences, instead of spoon-feeding them.
The general structure of drama is broken down into three parts, beginning, middle and end. “Interstellar’s” greatest flaw is that it does that first part twice. The film begins, flounders for 20-25 minutes and then begins again. Once reborn, it takes on a new, much greater, life that, in this reviewer’s opinion, is little served by the initial false start.
“Interstellar” is the type of film that can be both commended and condemned based on its writing. In some ways, the writing is elegant – taking hard-to-understand scientific concepts and turning them into heart-wrench dramatic emotions. In other ways, the film’s end-game is so far reaching that it ends up shaking its own foundations.
It’s a fine line to walk. “Interstellar” should be commended for its efforts, which are scientific to the letter; however, the harmonious result to its gnarly equation may end up out of reach for some audiences. As a rule, people have limited resources and can only focus on so many things at a time. With many of Christopher Nolan’s movies, the vast majority of that energy is spent just trying to keep pace. That is not inherently a bad thing, but know I missed beats in “Interstellar” because I will still chewing on a particularly difficult bit of science.
The Matthew McConaughey-led cast performs their given rolls well; however, had some of the character development/writing stretched as far as the science had, then “Interstellar” could truly have been a film for the ages. Furthermore, the film’s transition of studying the nature of the universe to studying the nature of human nature is sometimes jarring. That dichotomy, which was obviously intentional, is not sewn together in a perfect pattern.
Don’t misunderstand, “Interstellar” is a great film, a bold film, and an important film. It’s not Nolan’s best, but it is a strong entry in a remarkable pedigree. The breadth and gravitas of the visual effects are astounding. If possible, this is a film to see in IMAX, and its a film that is not to be missed, period. Does “Interstellar” represent that grand unified theory of filmmaking? No. Is it an incredible journey that explores the depths of the universe and the depths of the human heart and mind? Absolutely.
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Carlos Santana had no difficulty writing about the darker aspects of his life in his new book because he had already dealt with those demons long ago.
That includes the man who molested him as a child. Santana says he had the opportunity to confront the man.
He says he knew if he condemned that man to hell, he’d go there with him.
Santana says he reduced the man to a seven-year-old child, forgave him and sent him into the light.
Santana says the point of his book, “The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light,” is that we all need to heal on a daily basis.
RCA’s Miranda Lambert has partnered with Ram Trucks to auction a Ram Laramie Longhorn to benefit her Mutt Nation Foundation. The auction, which runs through Nov. 15, also includes signed Platinum CDs, autographed guitars and tickets and pre-show cocktails with Lambert at one of her 2015 concerts. More here.
UNDATED (AP) – New Zealand prosecutors have done an about-face and dropped a murder-for-hire charge against AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd.
Officials tell The Associated Press the charge has been dropped due to issues with the sufficiency of the evidence against Rudd.
Three lesser charges against Rudd remain. Those include threatening to kill and possession of meth and pot.
AC/DC say they only found out about the arrest of Rudd as the news was breaking.
The band says in a statement they have no further comment on the matter and Rudd’s arrest will not affect the release of their “Rock or Bust” album in December and their tour next year.
Undated (AP) – Bret Michaels is recovering from kidney surgery and is still keeping his tour schedule.
