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In a world of bands where truth often gets bogged down in the mire of genres, trends and politics, Over it would like to think they have stayed afloat. Out of Orange County, California, by way of Alexandria, Virginia, they have taken in the road and a host of adventures, discovering the things they value most. For this band, what matters is the sincerity of every last one of their hundreds of performances, a personal connection with their fans, and the quest for the inspiring song. Over it lives for furious sounds and a hopeful future. Nearly five years ago in the Fall of 1998, chance drew the members of Over It together. Peter, Nick, Seth and James were four bright-eyed teenagers then, staring down the dawn of what was to become a dazzling, liberating vision. "Looking back, it seems ironic that music left such an indelible mark on the four of us," relates Munters, the group?s lead vocalist and guitar player. ?The suburbs offered us no big brother bands to emulate, and beyond the dark outskirts of DC no form of music-centered scene or shows really existed. Still, somehow the boys in Over It found and sought out the sounds that opened their minds to the possibility of music as a serious creative outlet. Recording and touring in support of their indie-released demo ep, "Over It" and a full length album, "The Ready Series" (both on Oakland?s Negative Progression Records) became more and more a priority for the band as they waited for Ulrich (drums, 20) to finish high school. So much that in the spring of 2001 Munters (22), Watts(21), and Bailey (21), already attending universities, decided to push their education to the back-burner, and persuade their youngest band-mate to wait for college, instead joining them in the full-time pursuit of their love for music. To this day, the band reflects on this decision as the most pivotal turning point in Over It?s story. "We were all good students, but distracted from our studies by the rewards we found in the studio and on the road," remembers Watts. "We just told one another that if we could survive as a productive force, hear our songs featured on dozens of compilations worldwide and find content at each day?s end, we owed it to the world to work fully toward a musical destiny." Following the release of their "Hindsight 20/20" ep in 2001, the band garnered the attention of Santa Barbara?s own Lobster Records, who recognized the bands unflagging work ethic and positive energy. Encouraging Over It to continue and amplify their rigorous touring and eventually relocate to the Southern California markets, Lobster helped spawn "Timing Is Everything", the band?s second full length, and most critically acclaimed work to date. Received by good press, and the approval of a growing fan base, the record propelled Over It through several national tours and two-week stints on the grueling and infamous Vans Warped Tour in both 2002 and 2003 (as well as ?04). ?Being on warped tour was all at one our greatest blessing and the most burdensome weight the band has carried," notes Munters. "We drove our van alongside the coaches of so many-of our idols, and touched base with more fans than we ever thought we would meet, working all day and driving all night to find as much as we could. It was truly a testament to how far a little dedication and sincerity can take four friends." Nearly three years later, the band is still full of wonder and grateful for the path they?ve traveled. None of us ever thought to just step up and live a dream, that?s just the way it keeps happening.
"Neil Young: Heart of Gold" trailer
"Neil Young: Heart of Gold" is an intimate musical portrait of legendary singer/songwriter Neil Young, filmed on the occasion of the world premiere of Young's Prairie Wind concert at Nashville's hallowed Ryman auditorium last summer. Young's music provides an emotionally rich view into this unique artist's relationship to family, friends, mortality and the passage of time.
Storyline:
From Gerald Clarke, author of the book "Capote: A Biography".
"Truman, I've been asked to write your biography. Will you cooperate?"
From the other end of the telephone there was a short pause and an even shorter answer - "Sure." And so I began.
I thought my book would be relatively easy to write. I had, after all, written many profiles of famous and talented people for Time magazine - a list that eventually included everyone from Mae West to Susan Sontag, Elizabeth Taylor to Joseph Campbell. I had also done a series on writers for The Atlantic and Esquire. Gore Vidal. Allen Ginsberg, the Beat poet Vladmir Nabokov, the creator of Lolita. P. G. Wodehouse, the comic genius behind Jeeves. And, finally, Truman Capote, who was then the most celebrated writer in America-the author of In Cold Blood, the publishing phenomenon of the sixties and a book that has influenced the writing of nonfiction writing ever since. It was that last article that prompted a call from a publisher and my own call to Truman.
I thought my book would take two years, three at most, and that writing it would be a lark, interviews at fancy restaurants and gallons of good vintage wine at the best table in the house. When Truman Capote walked through the door, headwaiters did everything but salaam in their desire to please. "You might say Truman Capote has become omnipotent," said one newspaper, and for a decade and more he very nearly was.
I was right about the interviews in fancy restaurants and the giddy gallons of Beaujolais. But I was wrong about everything else. If he had known how long In Cold Blood would take, and what it would take out of him, he would not have stopped in Kansas, Truman later said. He would have driven on - "like a bat out of hell." I sometimes said much the same. What I had not anticipated was the drama that surrounded every minute of Truman's life, dramas in which I sometimes also became a participant. As a result, my own book took more than thirteen years. Some lark! Writing it was the hardest thing I have ever done. It was also the most exhilarating.
In search of information I crisscrossed the United States and traveled several times to Europe. One of my destinations was of course, Kansas, the setting for In Cold Blood. I came to know all but two of the main characters in Capote, the movie. Harper Lee, who helped Truman with his research and who was soon to have her own hugely successful book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Alvin Dewey, the lead detective for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and his wife, Marie. William Shawn, the editor of The New Yorker. And Jack Dunphy, Truman's longtime companion.
The two I did not interview were the killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. They were executed in 1965. But I got to know them - intimately, I thought - through the forty or so letters they wrote to Truman. Most of their letters run several pages, and they are unsparing windows into life on death row. Truman gave them to me, and Dan Futterman, who wrote the screenplay of Capote, is the only one I've ever let see them. Their dialogue in the movie reflects, almost word for word, what Perry and Dick actually said.
The movie's script is all Dan's - and a very good one it is - but I was happy to answer his questions, large and small Would Truman have said this? Would he have done that? Bennett Miller, the film's director, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays Truman, came out to my house on Long Island and asked more questions. Did Truman wear his glasses all the time? was one of the questions Philip asked. (The answer: like a lot of other nearsighted people, Truman often took off his glasses when he was sitting down.) So he could reproduce Truman's odd, childish voice - Truman did not lisp, as some writers have inaccurately stated - I gave him audio tapes from some of my interviews. Philip did the rest, and through the alchemy a few very gifted actors possess, he has done more than impersonate Truman. For the length of the movie he has resurrected him.
In the last week of June 1984 - he died in August - I had lunch with Truman every day on Long Island, followed by long talks at my house or his. "There's the one and only T.C.," he said at one point. "There was nobody like me before, and there ain't gonna be anybody like me after I'm gone." That's true - who could dispute it? For a couple of hours, however, Philip comes close.
This movie was nominated for numerous Academy Awards. Click here to see videos of other Oscar nominees on Download.com.
The trailer for one of the most celebrated films ever made about dub and reggae music, currently re-released on the 25th anniversary DVD.
Kacey Jones: "San Francisco Mabel Joy"
She's been virtually the laughing stock of the music industry for years. She's been laughed at outside the Nashville city limits by the likes of People Magazine, USA Today, Billboard, and on National Public Radio as Garrison Keillor's special guest on "A Prairie Home Companion." With KACEY JONES there's a lot to laugh about. Her new CD on IGO Records, "The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Box of Music," proves that Kacey Jones won't be taken seriously anytime soon. The follow-up to her last music-comedy project, "Never Wear Panties to a Party," the newest creation is not only bottomless in comedy appeal, but in establishing the vocal talent and comedy genius caught in the grooves. In the hard work-a-day world of carving a national name as one of the brightest new musical humorists to break through in recent years, Kacey Jones is used to breaking the mold. Singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, producer, and publisher--all distinct descriptions that fit only one unique piece of this puzzle. When completely assembled, the one that emerges is one of a delightful, born and bred in the San Francisco Bay Area, madcap redhead who sees the world at large with laser perception and a funny tilt. The naked truth is that many of the songs on "The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Box of Music" were divinely inspired by three best-selling Sweet Potato Queen books written by Kacey's friend and ally, Jill Conner Browne. "The Sweet Potato Queen's Big-Ass Cookbook & Financial Planner" written by Conner Browne and published by Three Rivers Press/Random House, hit #1 on the NY Times bestseller list for three weeks in March of 2003. Boasting a worldwide membership of 50,000, the Sweet Potato Queens can also boast that Kacey Jones holds the Official Title: "Royal Minstrel To The Sweet Potato Queens' Court" among the ranks of those who consider the sweet potato a sacred vegetable and have raised its perception to a national art form. If it all seems off the wall, it's totally sane in the world of Kacey. Hers was, after all, the brilliant mind that conceived one of Nashville's most unique and revered cult groups, the all-girl "Ethel and The Shameless Hussies," who broke above the waves in the late 80's to mainstream nominations as "Comedy Act of the Year," as well as a major contract with MCA Records. As lead singer and lead comedy writer, Kacey put the Shameless Hussies on America's national radar. Further proving that her talents could produce more than just a few good laughs, Kacey went into the studio with legendary cult artist, Kinky Friedman, only to emerge as the producer of his critically acclaimed project, "Pearls in the Snow." The album reached the #1 spot on the Americana radio chart in 1999. She added further weight to her professional portfolio by producing tracks for Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Tom Waits, Dwight Yoakam and Delbert McClinton for the same project. Movies were next to fall under the spell. Kacey contributed three original songs to the soundtrack of the award winning cult film, "Sordid Lives" starring Beau Bridges, Olivia-Newton-John, Delta Burke, Bonnie Bedalia, and Leslie Jordan. Could television be next? The WB Television Network currently has a sitcom in development titled, "The Sweet Potato Queens." "I hitched my wagon to the Sweet Potato Queens' rising star four years ago," stated Jones in a recent interview, "I've got 50,000 fabulous women (and a few Spud Studs) who worship me like I'm their Elvisit's a Royal ride and I'm enjoying every minute of it." The simultaneous release of "The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Box of Music" and a three-book-box-set by Conner Browne titled, "The Sweet Potato Queen's Big-Ass Box of Love," may just be the puff of wind under the dress that lifts Kacey Jones' career to new comedy heights.
Set against the colorful bustling backdrop of modern-day Manhattan, "Prime" is a romantic comedy about the trials and tribualtions of two mismatched lovers. Starring Oscar-nominee Uma Thurman as Rafi, a 37-year-old photography producer reeling from a recent divorce, who meets David (Bryan Greenberg), a 23-year-old painter recently out of college, "Prime" explores what happens when love at first site meets the day-to-day realities of an adult relationship. Oscar-winning actor, Meryl Streep, portrays Rafi's therapist, who also happens to be the mother of the man she is dating.
"Why Dance?" is an in-depth, behind the scenes look at the world of dance. It examines what attracts so many to this wondrous art form, including young students, former ballerina?s, and current dancers. It explores why they dance and what drives them from their early introduction to the neighborhood dance studio to the stages of Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, a professional dance company in San Jose, California. The full-length documentary discusses the benefits of dance competitions, including substantial footage of one of many competitions and conventions held in many cities throughout the country every year. It includes interviews with various winners including Peter Chursin (Mr. Dance of America 2003) and Ashley Canterna (Miss Dance of America 2002). The rigorous training, stretching, and rehearsing is also shown, as many of these young people put everything they have into trying to impress the judges during a 2-minute dance routine. Parents discuss the benefits of both dance and competing with respect to the positive influence it has had on their children?s scholastic achievement and self confidence. Not only do ballerina?s (including former dancers with American Ballet Theatre and Dance Theatre of Harlem) share their early experiences growing up in the world of dance, but we get insight from such notables as Dennis Nahat(world renown choreographer/ Artistic Director), Karen "KB" Brown (Artistic Director of the Oakland Ballet), and Daryl Gray(choreographer). Other contributors to the film include photographers Roger Ele, Hubert Worley, Christopher Jean-Richard, and world renown Martha Swope. It examines the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi which is held every four years where dancers from all over the world attend and compete for "The Gold". Dance as a career is discussed in numerous conversations with current professional dancers and former dancers with such notable dance companies as American Ballet Theatre, The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and the Stuttgart Ballet. Advice is given freely and quite candid in format. The darker side of dance is also explored including injuries, eating disorders, and insecurities, issues that all dancers will face sooner or later. This film goes behind the scenes of a professional dance company?s production of "The Pirates of Penzance", a ballet staged by Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley in San Jose, California. Behind the scenes footage includes actual choreography being set in the rehearsal hall as well as footage of the actual performance and extensive discussion by the choreographer, Daryl Gray. Included is a heart-warming "Billy Elliott" type story of a young boy who not only overcomes the objections of his father, but turns him into one of his biggest supporters at the same time. This film is not only an informative look at the world of dance, but often times an entertaining look as well.
When Harlan Carruthers, a charismatic cowboy who seems as if he would be much more at home in Monument Valley than in the San Fernando Valley, has a chance encounter with Tobe, a bored and restless suburban teenager, both of their lives are turned upside down. To Harlan, Tobe embodies all the purity and innocence impossible to find on the mean streets of L.A., while Tobe is drawn to Harlan's poetic charm and romantic spirit. Despite the obvious difference in their ages and backgrounds, the couple pursues their passionate furtive romance until it becomes apparent that Tobe is unprepared for the intensity of Harlan's love. Then, things take a sudden dangerous turn when Tobe discovers that Harlan is not at all what he appeared to be.
Aspiring-champion racecar Lightning McQueen is on the fast track to success, fame and everything he's ever hoped for -- until he takes an unexpected detour on dusty Route 66. His have-it-all-now attitude is thrown into a tailspin when a small-town community that time forgot shows McQueen what he's been missing in his high-octane life. From the master storytellers and animators at Pixar, this film was directed by Academy Award-winning John Lasseter ("Toy Story," "Toy Story 2," "A Bug's Life") and features the voice talents of Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, "Larry the Cable Guy," Cheech Marin, George Carlin, Richard Petty, Michael Keaton, Tony Shalhoub, John Ratzenberger, Michael Wallis, Paul Dooley, and Jenifer Lewis.
Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) has seen better days. When he was younger he was a movie star, mostly in Westerns. At the age of sixty, Howard uses drugs, alcohol and young girls to avoid the painful truth that there are only supporting roles left for him to play. After yet another night of debauchery in his trailer, Howard gallops away on his movie horse in full cowboy regalia--fleeing from the film and his life. He soon arrives in Elko, Nevada, the place that he ran away from years before and where his 80 year-old mother (Eva Marie Saint) still lives. Mom tells Howard that more than twenty years ago a young woman called her up trying to locate Howard and she figures that the girl was pregnant. This child, now an adult, could be a ray of hope, a possible salvation from Howard's narcissistic and meaningless life. Meanwhile, the film shoot that Howard has abandoned is in chaos over his absence and the insurance company hires a private detective (Tim Roth) to find him.
