Attention, Lucy Lawless fans! Next weekend you’ll be able to get your Xena fix like never before. The warrior princess will not only appear at the 12th annual Xena Convention in Secaucus, New Jersey; Lawless will also be singing live at three shows in New York City.
Xenites will gather June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Hotel in Secaucus, New Jersey for the annual Xena Convention. Headlining the weekend’s activities will be Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor (Gabrielle), on stage together and separately on Saturday (for the first time in New York). Also appearing throughout the three-day celebration will be Brittney Powell (Brunnhilda), Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite), Charles Keating (Zeus), Meighan Desmond (Discord/Sturgina), and Steven L. Sears (co-executive producer).
There will be special behind-the-scenes footage, on-stage presentations, trivia and costume contests, a charity breakfast, plus a merchandise emporium featuring licensed merchandise developed through NBC Universal. General admission tickets will be available at the door for $30 on Friday and Sunday, and $45 for Saturday. Tickets for children 6 to 12 are $20 each day and kids under 6 are free. For more information, visit creationent.com.
And if that isn’t enough, you can catch Lawless performing at The Canal Room in New York City. Following a sold-out gig earlier this year at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, her New York concert at the Canal Room is close to selling out, too. The performance is scheduled for three performances, May 31st, June 1st, and June 2nd.
Lawless finished a close second on the recent Fox series “Celebrity Duets,” in which she performed with musical icons Smokey Robinson and Dionne Warwick. Lawless says, “I’ve become a junkie for live performance. I can’t get enough and I can’t give enough.”
At her New York shows, she’ll sing songs by Etta James, Nina Simone, Crissy Hynde, and Melissa Etheridge, plus some of her own work.
Premium seating for the New York show is now sold out, but general tickets are available for $89. They can be purchased at the Canal Room office or by calling 212-941-8100. Doors will open at 7:30 PM. For more information, call Creation Entertainment at (818) 409-0960 or visit creationent.com.
AFRO SAMURAI (Director’s Cut) Release Date: May 22 Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Perlman, Kelly Hu Director: Fuminori Kizaki Length: 215 minutes
Afro Samurai is one badass. This westernized sci-fi hip-hop samurai anime tale somehow combines all these elements and creates one cool series. “Afro Samurai,” based on the Japanese manga by Takashi Okazaki, originally aired on Spike TV earlier this year in a five-episode mini-series. It’s the story of a samurai with a ginormous afro who is trying to avenge the death of his father. Ron Perlman gives an awesome voice performance as the No. 1 samurai Justice, who beheaded Afro’s dad right before his eyes. The director’s cut is dark and violent, full of blood, boobs, and Sam Jackson doing what he does best — spitting out the word “motherf***er.” Jackson actually voices two of the main roles, Afro Samurai and his fast-talking comical sidekick Ninja Ninja. “Afro Samurai” has awesome animation, a kicking soundtrack by Wu Tang member The RZA, and the baddest afro in cartoons. The first episode is fast-paced and intense, highlighted by the appearance of Justice, a baddie who wields a really long gun. The rest of the episodes don’t quite live up to the kickoff. But the finale, which also includes Justice, rocks. I guess I’m trying to say that we should have seen more from Justice. Nonetheless, “Afro Samurai” makes up for Samuel L. Jackson’s “Snakes on a Plane.”
DVD GOODIES
A second disc of bonus material includes a featurette on the voice talent, a RZA music production tour featurette, and an interview with the associate producer.
OUT THIS WEEK…
APOCALYPTO Director Mel Gibson follows up “The Passion of the Christ” with this action-adventure tale about the end of the Mayan civilization.
EPIC MOVIE The writers of “Scary Movie” spoof such blockbusters as “Superman Returns,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Starring Kal Penn and Adam Campbell.
KYLE XY, SEASON 1 This three-disc set collects the first season of the ABC Family series about a mysterious boy who doesn’t have a belly button.
HBO’s “Entourage” is back. Vince, Eric, Drama, and Turtle are still living large in La La Land. And we love it. Here are some reasons (4 to be exact) why it’s TV’s coolest half hour…
1) Jeremy Piven
As agent Ari Gold, Jeremy Piven is the most lovable bastard on TV. Every episode he delivers the best lines and the best insults since Archie Bunker. My personal favorites: “Let’s hug it out, bitch.” “Got Milf?” “Hilary Swank has a vagina, but she won an Oscar pretending she has a dick. That’s what actors do. They pretend.”
2) Kevin Dillon
Kevin Dillon, the less successful brother of actor Matt Dillon, portrays the less successful brother of actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier). It’s the role he was born to play. He’s the lovable loser to Ari’s lovable bastard. He’s pathetic and he hasn’t been funnier since “Heaven Help Us.” And that was in 1985.
3) Hot Chicks
Sure, there’s Emmanuelle Chriqui, Carla Gugino, and even Mandy Moore. But the babes I’m talking about are the ones whose names you don’t remember. There are always a gaggle of hot babes on “Entourage” as the boys go on the prowl. And they’re often naked! The babes, I mean.
4) Male Bonding
We’re not talking about Ari and Lloyd here. The heart and soul of the show is the camaraderie between Vince, Eric, Drama, and Turtle and their adventures in La La Land as they hang out, hook up, and have fun spending lots of cash. It’s the life every red-blooded American man is dying for. But that’s why we have TV. Thank you, HBO.
There are plenty more reasons why Battlestar Galactica rocks. But the name of the feature is “The 4,” and it would be weird to break the rules when this is the first one. So, let’s get to it…
1) Cylons
Battlestar Galactica has redefined the robot (affectionately known as a toaster). The new breed of Cylon is complex, emotional, unpredictable, and super hot! They make for some scary villains, but, boy, do you like them. And the non-humanoid, shiny metal Cylons are some of the coolest and scariest robots since Gort.
2) Baltar
No matter what evil crap Baltar does, you have to love him. That’s the strength of the character and James Callis plays it to perfection. Baltar is the greatest bad guy ever to grace the small screen, and what makes him so great is that he might not really be a bad guy after all. A complex, compelling, and at times hilarious character, Baltar makes BSG rock. Hard.
3) Writing
No show can be great without great writing. And Battlestar Galactica has heaps of great writing. Besides its suspense and action, BSG is great drama, full of colorful and complex characters. This is no space opera. It’s just flat-out great storytelling. Take that, George Lucas!
4) Frak
How frakking awesome is a show that wants to curse so bad that it creates its own dirty word? I almost died laughing when I heard “motherfrakker” on one episode. “Frack” was used on the original series, but the reimagined show has taken it to new heights and dropped off the “c” to make it a four-letter word. Genius!
There are many secrets on the island of “Lost.” But I’ve uncovered at least one all by myself. Desmond, played by Henry Ian Cusick, is somehow related to guitar legend Eric Clapton. It’s gotta be. Every time I see Desmond on screen, I think, “Holy crap, Slowhand is on ‘Lost.’ Maybe he’ll jam with Charlie.”
Now, if you watch “Lost,” you know everything and everyone is connected in some way. Claire is really Jack’s half-sister. Hurley owned the box company where Locke worked. Libby was in that psych hospital with Hurley. Rose once gave Sawyer a Hershey bar when he was 12 years old…and so on. But if the uncanny physical resemblance between Desmond and Clapton hasn’t convinced you, maybe these other connections will…
One of Clapton’s nicknames is God. Cusick played Jesus Christ in the movie “The Visual Bible: Gospel of John.”
Clapton played in the band Derek and the Dominos. Cusick is notorious for his love of Domino’s pizza.
Both men are six foot.
Both men have accents.
Cusick’s wife’s maiden name is Wood. Clapton is most famous for playing the guitar, which is made out of — you guessed it — wood.
I just noticed another connection. Both of their last name’s begin with the letter “C.” This is getting serious!
Clapton has a home on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Cusick was raised on the Caribbean island of Trinidad (also both men have lived most of their lives on the British isles, and, of course, Cusick plays a man trapped on an island).
Cusick was born in Peru, which is the leading producer of coca leaves. Clapton was addicted to cocaine and is well known for his cover of the song “Cocaine.”
Convinced? Okay, let me hit you with another of my theories: the strange occurrences on the island of “Lost” are really part of a drug-induced nightmare that Eric Clapton had after a concert at the Budokan in the late ’70s. Time will prove me right.
Does it not make sense that a so-called professional musician, Gene Simmons, has the stupidest, and most poorly written, theme song on TV? Interestingly, it took four people (Gene Simmons, Philip W. Gough, Leslie Greif, Adam Reed) to write the lyrics. That’s 13 words per writer. Here are the 52 words that make up the theme to the A&E reality series “Gene Simmons Family Jewels”:
This is the Gene Simmons Family Jewels.
When God made me he broke all the rules.
I rock all day, I roll all night
You wish you were me, you know I’m right.
And that’s Shannon my beauty queen,
the finest girl I have ever seen
Apparently adopting an “if you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em attitude,” “Star Wars” mastermind George Lucas has signed on to direct several future episodes of the Sci Fi channel series “Battlestar Galactica.”
Lucas, of course, has a long history with BSG — he sued the producers of the original show, claiming they infringed on the “Star Wars” copyrights. Lucas eventually lost his suit. “Battlestar Galactica” lasted one season (1978-79), and Lucas went on to make three more, really bad, “Star Wars” films.
Now, Lucas says, “You know, back then ‘Star Was’ was obvioulsy superior to Battlestar, but now the tables have turned. Maybe I’m getting too old. If I can get a piece of the merchandising, I might stick around BSG a while longer.”
Fans of the Sci Fi series, however, are deeply concerned that Lucas’s involvement will signal the end of “Battlestar Galactica.” “I think this is George’s revenge,” one former BSG cast member was quoted as saying. “He has been deeply jealous of the success of the new BSG. Whereas ‘Star Wars’ only got worse over the years, ‘Battlestar’ got better. Now, the only way to ruin it is to let Lucas get his paws on it.”
(Warning: This is an April Fool’s joke. This story is not true!)
Seventy-six years ago this week were born two of the 20th century’s greatest entertainers. Though chiefly known for their work on the seminal sci-fi series “Star Trek,” William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) and Leonard Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) have also brought great, unintentional joy to the world through the gift of song. For some unknown reason Shatner and Nimoy thought they could make music and both men made several — several — albums. Shatner’s inlclude “The Transformed Man” and “Has Been,” and Nimoy’s dozen discs include the compilation “Highly Illogical.”
Here, in celebration of these legends’ misguided genius, are clips of my favorite Shatner – Nimoy tunes: (more…)
I am deeply saddened by the news of Larry “Bud” Melman‘s death. As a big fan of David Letterman‘s old “Late Night” show, I watched Larry Bud from the beginning. He came to symbolize Letterman’s cutting-edge, iconoclastic talk show, which paved the way for Conan O’Brien and Jon Stewart. You never knew if the odd, little man was acting or for real. Often, in the middle of an appearance, Melman would suddenly fall silent and look confused — which, of course, made the bit even more funny. He was truly bizarre and that’s why we loved him.
Larry “Bud” Melman was born Calvert DeForest in Brooklyn, New York. After appearing in a studen film, Letterman discovered the actor, gave him his stage name, and put him on the first episode of “Late Night.” Besides numerous Letterman appearances, he appeared in commercials, a Run-DMC video, and movies, including the Andrew McCarthy coming-of-age-tale “Heaven Help Us.” His last Letterman appearance was in 2002. Calvert DeForest died Monday in Babylon, Long Island. He was 85.
Attention, Lucy Lawless fans! Next weekend you’ll be able to get your Xena fix like never before. The warrior princess will not only appear at the 12th annual Xena Convention in Secaucus, New Jersey; Lawless will also be singing live at three shows in New York City.
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