FORMER LONELYGIRL15 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER YUMIKO AOYAGI READIES NEXT INTERNET SENSATION, THE SCARY CITY
Award-winning Japanese Writer/Producer Will Launch $5.2 Million Production With
LOS ANGELES, August 7, 2008—Award-winning Japanese writer/producer Yumiko Aoyagi, who was the Executive Producer for the groundbreaking Internet series lonelygirl15, is ready to take Web entertainment to the next generation with The Scary City, a mystery cyber-series she describes as “The Blair Witch Project meets Lost.”
Aoyagi’s Los Angeles, CA-based The Scary City LLC production company is undertaking the $5.2 million project, a cutting-edge international mystery narrative combined with an online social networking community and pioneering website, which will begin production on two separate, but interrelated, versions in Los Angeles and
The luxurious, $1.4 million Scary City website was produced by IMJ,
“That’s the beauty of the Internet,” said Aoyagi, who was born in
Aoyagi intends to turn The Scary City Internet series, which will start with five 90-second-to three-minute episodes a week, into a major motion picture. Content will also be delivered to mobile phones and featured in Manga graphic novels.
“It’s like a full-fledged pre-release campaign, with each story in every country serving as a trailer for the movie,” she says. “You don’t need to spend $20 million in marketing any more.”
Episodes of the show can be sent by e-mail, spreading the show virally across the Web, where it will also appear on such popular portals as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. The next order of business for Aoyagi is an online competition on YouTube to cast the
“Our goal is to produce the next generation of web-based scripted series, with better production values,” says Aoyagi. “This is being done by an expert team which includes some of the most respected creative talent in the world, who really know how to tell a story on the Internet. And we’ve designed a highly sophisticated plan, both financially and artistically, to create a worldwide phenomenon.”
The globe-spanning plot will involve a future doomsday, with the international cast involving each of their subsequent home countries in the epic narrative.
“The promise of the Internet is how it allows us to mix reality with fantasy,” says Aoyagi. “A hundred years ago, it was said that Reality imitates Art, but now we can say Reality truly co-exists with Art.”
And that is the world The Scary City will inhabit.
Daryl Hall Hooks Up with Cutting-Edge Canadian Innovators, Who Say It’s a Dream Come True
NEW YORK, July 24, 2008—Daryl Hall’s free web-show, Live From Daryl’s House, has become a destination for music fans seeking the latest in up-and-coming artists. The 10th edition, which can be seen on www.livefromdarylshouse.com, starting August 15, will feature highly touted, two-man Canadian electrofunk outfit Chromeo.
The Montreal-based pair is made up of Dave 1 (David Macklovitch) on guitar and vocals and P-Thugg (Patrick Gemayel) on keyboards, synthesizers and talk box. They’ve released two albums, including 2004’s She’s In Control and 2007’s Fancy Footwork, both on prestigious indie label Vice. The band was named MTV’s Artist of the Week in Oct. 2007. The set included a pair of Daryl Hall & John Oates hits, “Family Man” and “Adult Education” as well as Chromeo songs, “Tenderoni” and “Waiting 4 U”
“It's not every day that you meet the single biggest influence of your band, let alone get to jam with them in a laid back and creative atmosphere,” says Chromeo’s Dave 1. “Filming Live From Daryl’s House was one of the highlights of our musical journey. We'll be pinching ourselves for years for come. Given that he pretty much wrote half our songs, it was about time we met Daryl Hall in real life.”
The show with Chromeo can be seen exclusively at www.livefromdarylshouse.com starting August 15 at
Past episodes of the series have featured a mix of well-known performers like Nick Lowe, K.T. Tunstall and Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy, as well as newcomers such as Austin, TX-based acoustic guitarist and songwriter Monte Montgomery and Philly soul singer Mutlu.
Daryl Hall’s “light bulb moment” of “playing music with my friends and putting it up on the Internet” has received kudos from Rolling Stone and the influential Lefsetz Letter.
“These collaborations have really reinvigorated my music, both as a solo artist and in the stuff I do with John and the band,” says Daryl. “And the response continues to be overwhelming.”
For a high res photo of Chromeo and Daryl Hall, please click here:
http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/templates/default/images/lfdh_dhchromeo-lg.jpg
MULTI-PLATINUM GRAMMY WINNER EVERLAST’S VIDEO FOR “FOLSOM PRISON BLUES” TO DEBUT ON CRACKLE.COM
Johnny Cash cover from upcoming Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford album is online video entertainment network’s first major video premiere
BURBANK, CA (July 3, 2008)—"Folsom Prison Blues," the video of the new single from multi-platinum Grammy winner Everlast’s upcoming album, Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford, will be the first major artist clip to premiere on Crackle, Inc. (www.crackle.com), Sony Pictures Entertainment’s multi-platform video entertainment network, available on the Internet, in the living room and on devices.
The video of the Johnny Cash song will begin airing July 7 through 14. Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford is scheduled for release on Sept. 23 on Everlast’s own Martyr Inc. label and TRP Records, in a partnership with Hickory Records, an imprint of Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
“We’re thrilled to launch Everlast’s highly anticipated new music video on Crackle,” said Crackle GM Jonathan Shambroom. “This launch marks the site's first major artist music video debut on the site, and we're excited to bring yet another new form of entertainment to our viewers. Our audience expects the newest, hottest high-quality content, and we're confident Everlast’s video will live up to their expectations.”
“Letters Home from the
“The sound is totally different than anything I’ve ever done,” says Everlast, who recorded his first solo album in 1988 with Ice-T before busting out a platinum album with the group House of Pain and its iconic 1992 hit, “Jump Around.” “I’ve been making albums long enough to know nothing is guaranteed. But I’ve got a feeling in my bones that I don’t get very often and I like it.”
Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford was co-produced by Everlast with his longtime partner Keefus Ciancia, whose credits include T-Bone Burnett, and is the logical sequel to his 1998 solo breakthrough, Whitey Ford Sings the Blues, an eclectic mix of rock, blues, country, pop and hip-hop, which cracked the Billboard Top 10 and sold more than 2 million on the strength of its crossover Top 40 hit, “What It’s Like.”
The following year, Everlast’s collaboration with rock legend Carlos Santana, “Put Your Lights On,” earned him a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. His last two albums were the critically acclaimed Eat at Whitey’s (2000) and White Trash Beautiful (2004).
More recently, Everlast was recruited by Nancy Miller, creator and executive producer for the
Daryl Hall Invites Austin Acoustic Guitar Whiz to Appear After Spotting Him on YouTube Playing “Sara Smile”
“Someone sent me a clip of Monte performing ‘Sara Smile’ on YouTube,” says Hall. “And I immediately asked him to come on the show to play it with me.”
The
“This is quite an honor,” said
The performance can be seen exclusively at www.livefromdarylshouse.com starting July 15th.
What started as a “light bulb” moment experienced by Daryl Hall has turned into a viral sensation, with the superstar “playing music with my friends and putting it up on the Internet, receiving kudos from Rolling Stone and the influential Lefsetz Letter. He calls it “just another way to see my environment. It’s a state of mind, you know?”
Previous archived episodes of Live From Daryl’s House have included appearances by legendary new wave performer Nick Lowe, U.K. singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy, a longtime Hall fan, Chuck Prophet and Mutlu, as well as a holiday special featuring songs from the Daryl Hall and John Oates release, Home for Christmas and a webcast of Daryl’s acclaimed SXSW solo show at Austin Convention Center performing a number of his classics. All can still be accessed at www.livefromdarylshouse.com.
Live from Daryl’s House has taken place at Hall’s residences in
“These collaborations have really reinvigorated my music, both as a solo artist and in the stuff I do with John and the band,” says Daryl. “It’s like getting a new lease on life. And the response continues to be overwhelming.”
Reunited ‘80s Hitmakers Back on the Road, Working on New Material and Playing Smashes “Goodbye to You,” “The Warrior”
With a platinum album, The Warrior, and a self-titled debut that is the best-selling EP in Columbia history, Patty Smyth and Scandal are one of the ‘80s signature female-fronted rock bands, scoring the Top 10 single “The Warrior” and standards like the MTV hit “Goodbye to You,” “Love’s Got a Line on You,” “Beat of a Heart,” “Hands Tied” and “No Mistakes.”
Spurred by an impromptu reunion in 2004 on VH1’s Bands Reunited series and a stint on the network’s “We Are the ‘80s” tour in the summer of 2006 with Rick Springfield, Patty Smyth and Scandal have regrouped, including two original members in guitarist Keith Mack and keyboardist/guitarist Benjy King along with the new rhythm section of bassist Tom Welsch and drummer Eran Asias, with plans to tour and record new material.
“I really wanted to get back out there gigging and doing shows,” says Smyth, who also attributed the decision to the fact her kids are now all grown up. “People think I have this comfortable married life, so I’m not serious about working. But this is something I really need to do, and want to do.”
Smyth and Scandal first burst onto the scene in 1982 with a self-titled EP that produced a pair of hits in “Goodbye to You,” a #1 MTV video, and “Love’s Got a Line on You.” The Warrior, released in 1984, climbed into the Top 20 on the sales chart, eventually moving more than a million copies, producing the Top 10 single, “The Warrior” as well as “Hands Tied” and “Beat of a Heart.”
Smyth’s self-titled 1993 second solo album included “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough,” a hit duet with The Eagles’ Don Henley that reached #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks, #1 on the AC chart for four consecutive weeks and was named
Today, a whole new generation is being turned on to Patty Smyth and Scandal. “The Warrior” has been featured in an episode of Family Guy and on video games Grand Theft Auto and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the ‘80s.
“I have six kids and they listen to our stuff all the time on their iPods and turn all their friends onto it, too,” she says. “People want to hear someone singing live over a real band and not just playing to tape or having 15 dancers on-stage. We get all ages at our shows. It’s a pretty wide demographic.”
Getting back on-stage with her current band has revitalized Smyth. “We’re kicking ass and blowing minds out there. We’re so tight, if I fell down a flight of stairs, these four guys would follow me and we’d all land on our feet. I’ve never had more fun. For once, I feel like all the weight isn’t on me. I’m at the top of my game. When I step out on that stage, I’m in my element. It’s an unbelievable joy.”
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pattysmythandscandal
PABLO CRUISE FINDS A WAY AS WILL FERRELL SPORTS T-SHIRT WITH
BAND’S LOGO IN NEW FILM, STEP BROTHERS
LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2008— As the title of one of ‘70s
Although Lerios had previously given Sony Studios permission to use the T-shirt, he had no idea how prominently it would be featured in the movie, which opens nationally July 25, after Ferrell reportedly picked it out from a wardrobe rack.
“We were amazed at how much Will was wearing it in the trailer,” said Cory, who formed the band in 1973 in
In fact, the first 30 legitimate members of the media who reply to this press release will receive a vintage Pablo Cruise T-shirt, like the one worn by Ferrell in the movie, which is sure to make you the envy of your friends.
The logo, which is a classic brand in itself, adorned the covers of the band’s 1977 breakthrough, platinum A&M album A Place in The Sun, as well as their ’78 Top 10 double platinum Worlds Away and the 1981 Reflector, showcasing the music’s carefree sun and fun vibe, equal parts the Beach Boys, Loggins & Messina and Jimmy Buffett. The group scored Top 10 singles with “Whatcha Gonna Do?” and “Love Will Find a Way,” and Top 20 hits with “I Want You Tonight” and “Cool Love” and “Don’t Want To Live Without It.”
The exposure couldn’t have come at a more perfect time, since original members, Cory Lerios (keyboards, vocals), David Jenkins (guitar, vocals) and Stephen Price (Drums) recently decided to get back together, play some shows and connect with their many, many fans once again, just for the fun of it!
“The reaction has been awesome,” says Jenkins. “We’ve been enjoying it so much, we have decided to continue. The old fans are turning out and now they’re bringing their kids with them and the kids are responding as if they’ve discovered their favorite new band.” Pablo has been playing fairs, casino’s and some selected smaller theaters and clubs and the “band is better than ever!” says Lerios. And, more importantly, “we’re having a great time.”
Both Lerios and Jenkins (Pablo’s songwriters) have stayed busy in the music world over their years away from the band. Lerios, for one, has stayed extremely busy for past 20 years as an Emmy Award-winning TV theme and score composer, working on such shows as Max Headroom, Days Of Our Lives, Disney’s Kim Possible and, for 12 years, one of the biggest shows ever to hit television, Baywatch. Jenkins scored a couple of #1 hits in the Country Music World with Southern Pacific (made up of members from the Doobie Bros. and Creedence Clearwater Revival) and he currently tours all over the U.S. with “Rock and Pop Masters,” when not Pabloizing!
The band’s “Love Will Find a Way,” was recently featured in one of CBS’s new, and much heralded, primetime shows, “Swingtown.” The pilot episode was entitled “Love will find a Way” as well. The band is currently in the works, planning their own reality based internet TV show entitled, “Pablo Cruise Tube.” to be filmed at Cory’s studio in
“Pablo Cruise is still very vital,” says Dave. “We enjoy getting out there and playing. And if people are curious about us again because of the T-shirt, it’s a good thing and if their curiosity brings them out to see us live, they’ll be glad they did and….we’ll make ‘em a hell-of-a-deal on a shirt!”
“Having not been on the road for so many years, I didn’t really realize how much our music has meant to our fans,” adds Cory. “People literally come from across the country to see us, with vinyl records to sign and great stories about the first time they heard us. I think the fact that we haven’t been out playing for the last 20 years is working to our advantage and the music’s still feels fresh because we haven’t beaten it to death over the years,” says Lerios.
As for who is Pablo Cruise, taken from the nickname of a school friend, Cory explains, “Because the band is a quartet, we have always answered that question by saying he is the guy in the middle.” Naturally, he’s the one wearing that hot new fashion accessory, the Pablo Cruise T-shirt.
For high resolution photos of Pablo Cruise (both current and vintage), as well as a movie still of Will Ferrell wearing the T-shirt, please go to http://pablocruise.com/mediaonly/
