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deadcactuswalking · 2 months

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 06/04/2024 (Beyoncé's COWBOY CARTER)

Welp, as one would expect, she gets the double, the #1 album with COWBOY CARTER and “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” is back up top. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we shall start with our notable dropouts - songs exiting the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, after five weeks in the chart or a peak in the top 40 - and this week, we bid adieu to some big deals: “FRI(END)S” by V (more BTS on the way), “BURN” by Hitler and Goebbels, “Coal” by Dylan Gossett, “Grey” by Yung Filly, “Selfish” by Justin Timberlake, “redrum” by 21 Savage, “Nothing Matters” by The Last Dinner Party, “Strangers” by Kenya Grace and finally, “Escapism.” by RAYE featuring 070 Shake.

As for our returns, we see “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus and “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi back to bottom-dwell at #75 and #74, alongside “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo at #71, “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac, they’re basically all in the same boat. Notable gains on the other hand… we see boosts for “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift at #67, “if u think i’m pretty” by Artemas at #52, “FE!N” by Travis Scott featuring Playboi Carti at #50, “Never be Lonely” by Jax Jones and Zoe Wees at #41, sigh, “Been Like This” by Meghan Trainor and T-Pain at #40, SIGH, “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners at #38, “Slow it Down” by Benson Boone at #27 (likely even further next week thanks to the album), “Happier” by The Blessed Madonna and Clementine Douglas at #26, “Back on 74” by Jungle at #25 (what a great new run this is having), “Belong Together” by Mark Ambor at #22, and finally, Artemas gets his first top 10 with “i like the way you kiss me”. I mean, at least it’s interesting.

Now our top five should look pretty familiar: “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” by Ariana Grande at #5, “Too Sweet” by Hozier at #4, “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims at #2 and of course Bey knocks Benjamin Boonerang off the #1 to #2 with “Beautiful Things”. Now to talk about - let’s be real - Beyoncé and some minor cameos.

New Entries

#64 - “NEURON” - j-hope, Gaeko and YOON MIRAE

Produced by Pdogg

So, j-hope of BTS released an album - or it seems more like a mixtape - that landed at #38 on the albums chart thanks to the classic BTS sales. Whilst there doesn’t appear to be a clear single on the project, especially considering j-hope was always more of a rapper in the group, but this got the video treatment and is very much what I expect from j-hope, at least from the very little I’ve heard of his solo work. It’s got a set of blissful pads against a vocoder sample and surprisingly heavy-hitting boom bap drums, as well as sing-songy rap flows in a nasal, almost J. Cole-like delivery that could be about love but keep it vaguer in the verse, it might be more conscious and spiritual, especially considering the focus on neuron activation. Gaeko is a lot more explicitly introspective, looking back on his life and how he’s not as aggressive as he used to be in his youth, finding more solace in playing ball with his son that “embracing the bomb” - some of the Genius translation could miss out some detail or context here. Now YOON MIRAE, a female rapper, really brings the heat here, as the intensity of the pianos ramp up, the beat gets a tad more minimal and she raps bilingually in a deeper yell than either of the guys here can cough up. She speaks somewhat generically of the rap game and motivation to grind, but her riffing on the final chorus is what convinces me, as well as her acknowledging that she’s granted the beat drop in the song, it shows an awareness of the structure of the song and not just being a guest rap verse, it’s clever and interesting, really puts the verse into perspective. So I ended up really liking this - it’s a bit fluffy, as K-pop often is, but it’s got grit and meaning to it this time around, and with the variety in flows, focused content, I can dig this.

#62 - “Jump” - Tyla, Gunna and Skillibeng

Produced by Sammy Sosa

I quite liked Tyla’s self-titled debut, currently at #33 on the albums chart. The South African singer brings a reassuring, youthful joy to detailed production and it’s all a light, feathery bliss that’s just a delight to sit through, even if the record is clearly not for sitting. I have a full first-impressions review on my RateYourMusic listening log (the account is exclusivelytopostown) if you want more thoughts on that, but my favourite moments on the album are when guest features with a little more smolder are brought in to balance the sweetness, like with Tems on “No. 1” and with Gunna and Jamaican deejay Skillibeng on this track, “Jump”, which has a subtle sprinkling of Afrobeats guitars and keys over the very unsubtle rhythm section, a great deep bass and busy drums that can counter the choir vocals in the verses as well as Tyla belting a tad on the chorus. There’s little substance to it - it’s just about being hot and having fun, with a hilariously repetitive post-chorus, but both Tyla and Gunna shout out her native Johannesburg and if you were expecting anything of further depth, you’re just listening to the wrong album. This is a lot of fun and I hope it catches on.

#61 - “I LUV IT” - Camila Cabello featuring Playboi Carti

Produced by El Guincho and Jasper Harris

Sometimes I wish this show was a video series. For this entry, I would probably just point and laugh at the calculated attempt to be interesting, for a demographic I’m a part of, and failing so catacylismically that no-one is buying it or bothering to listen more than once. I don’t mean to be harsh, and I’m not blaming the artists, more so the label and marketing teams: when releasing a pop single, you first have to consider - who is this for? Who can you appeal to and how? Here, Camila has her own fanbase already, so she’s going to try and appeal to them, naturally. Also, it has a very edgy, cinematic video for fans of say, The Weeknd or people who watch Euphoria. Sure, okay, that could work. Oh, and the song sounds like Charli XCX - though she recruited ROSALÍA’s producer - so she’s trying to appeal to her hyperpop crowd, that’s fine, you’re stretching yourself a bit thin there though, it could be a bit too camp for the edgy crowd if you do that, and a bit too dark for the hyperpop crowd if you get Playboi Carti on board, because I guess she needs a rap crossover audience… or at least an experimental rap crossover audience in this case. At least she’s not using a nostalgia-bait sample of a Gucci Mane song from… oh, she’s using a nostalgia-bait sample of a Gucci Mane song from 2009. Okay, so I guess the target demographic is everyone now, but hyperpop fans like authenticity, and this clearly doesn’t have it. Carti fans hate women, Camila’s own fans, if her old comments are anything to go by, hate… “rappers”, let’s say that. And really, what person who would be nostalgic for Gucci’s “Lemonade” - never charted here, by the way - would even be keeping an eye out for Camila Cabello? This is just a travesty of a lead single… and the song’s brilliant, all of that context just makes what the eventual end product is completely hilarious.

I’ve always been an advocate for mess in pop music - not necessarily the discourse, but the music itself and the rollout surrounding it - because it is exciting and part of the reason I do this show. There are more fascinating stories to be told with music when it reaches a mass audience, it’s just natural, and that’s especially interesting when the song is a Goddamn trainwreck that’s catchy as sin and does everything wrong. There are rage synths that don’t last the entire measure for no reason - and they don’t try and hide it - whilst the synths on the chorus play the role of a theremin. Cabello not being able to sing all that well means that her playing staccato, hyperpop robo-girl over a pretty rote Jersey club groove actually goes really well for her, even if she inexplicably decorates the song in breathy ad-libs as if she herself was Playboi Carti. Speaking of ad-libs, they leave in Gucci’s original “brr”s in the chorus, seemingly out of either laziness or refusal to re-record the choir hook, and given both hooks are just mantras, there are basically two choruses instead of an active chorus/post-chorus dynamic, especially since there is no considerable change sonically or tonally between the two. This lack of structure culminates in a “bridge” that is JUST multi-tracked ad-libs, and features Cabello saying “slow down, baby”… the tempo remains the same entirely and the drums don’t go into half-time like they probably should for a Playboi Carti feature. He goes for his deep, richer voice and the song just kind of… ends with his verse? Barely catching up to the beat, Carti rambles as usual, even less coherent in his mumbling than usual, and eventually, Cabello tries to insert herself into his orbit, it’s so painful. It’s telling that when I search for this song on Spotify, the artists recommended to me are Carti, Charli and then Ken Carson and Lancey Foux. Camila herself is nowhere to be seen in that list of artists and whether that’s because there’s none of her personality in this song or she didn’t have any to begin with is a question for another day. For now, this is garbage. I love it.

#60 - “Outside of Love” - Becky Hill

Produced by PARISI

Now Becky Hill kind of has something to prove to me now, she’s been on increasingly better production that fits the places she wants to go with her voice a lot more as of recent and it’s been pretty promising. Also promising are PARISI, a duo who I mostly connect with Fred again.. but have also worked extensively with Ed Sheeran, and particularly on some of his most interestingly layered songs vocally like “Afterglow” and “Visiting Hours” which may be a coincidence but had me really excited for what the boys could do with Ms. Hill. Turns out it probably was a coincidence, the vocal mixing is kind of mediocre actually, they don’t really contain her belting very well, not that it really needs containing given this is fully in festival mode. Everytrinkling synth pad, house kick, it feels like it’s a constant light fluttering under Hill’s desperate attempt to jigsaw this relationship back together. I know it’s an EDM-pop track so the lyrics are little to write home about but it should still be said that the description of herself as on the “outside of love” is interesting imagery, it makes me wonder what could be done with that concept by a more poetic writer who has a bit more time and, let’s be real, a fitting sonic palette for that kind of lyricism. Whilst this hasn’t immediately clicked with me as much as the past two, I feel I’ll appreciate this one for just being a maximalist bop with terribly-mixed gospel-like vocals on the final drop, it goes for an onslaught of everything in a very admirable way. It’s cute, it reminds me of when 2000s Eurodance hits would go way harder than they needed to simply to raise the dramatic stakes. So yeah, another Becky Hill song I like. World’s crumbling.

#9 - “II MOST WANTED” - Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus

Produced by Beyoncé, Shawn Everett, Michael Pollack, Miley Cyrus and Jonathan Rado

So, there’s a Beyoncé album, I think? It’s got a country and western tinge to it. Heard it’s long, heard it’s pretty good. Haven’t heard it. I probably will not listen to it and I’m not saying that to be “cool” or contrarian because if I were, I’d have listened to it and pretended to hate it. Realistically, I don’t have a dog in the Beyoncé does country argument. I’m not a country fan, or a country hater, I’m not a big Beyoncé fan, or Azealia Banks, so I have nothing valuable to contribute to the discourse as well as no reason to hear a damn near feature-length record. When Beyoncé did house, firstly, she did it well, and secondly, I’m a fan of house music! I know more about it than other genres, I’m quite educated in certain subgenres and I recognised a few of the samples and cultural references she was lifting from on RENAISSANCE. I feel like most of them may be lost on me or not fully resonate when discussing her pivot to country music, and I wish that wasn’t the case. Part of me just wants to say that I listen to Weezer and future bass so leave me alone. Thankfully, the British public has given me the easiest plate of two tracks from this album: a Dolly Parton cover and a mid Miley duet. It’s about being a ride-or-die, it’s got soaring guitars and both ladies have an audible rasp and grit to their voices, even if Miley ends up like a backing vocalist at times to Bey. They’re trading lyrics or in harmony nearly all the time, and Miley plays it a lot calmer than Bey, naturally, who probably wants and needs to prove herself in country pop more than the seasoned player. Hell, I actually think their chemistry here is awkward and not accentuated by the vague western-soundfont lyrics that don’t play into any notable angle, and in the bridge, just kind of give up on themselves. It’s a bit disappointing, to say the least.

#8 - “JOLENE” - Beyoncé

Produced by Beyoncé, Khirye Tyler, Jack Ro and NOVA WAV

Dolly Parton’s iconic 1973 jam “Jolene”, begging desperately for this beautiful woman not to cheat on her husband, is pretty undeniable, right? Well, I’ve never really liked it, sorry to say. My taste in country is pretty horrific, I’ll be the first to admit, but I’ve always found the instrumentation underwhelming and going for sinister when Dolly is selling it with a long of strength and desperacy, like she’s at her last tether. The sapphic elements are compelling of course, but they collapse in the third verse, then it fades out having sonically done nothing much at all. There’s always been something breezy about it to me that I never really understood, and that’s no disrespect to Dolly, she’s easily my favourite part. Regardless, this is one of those times where I have to give a chart history, so flashback to 1976, when “Jolene” first lands on the UK charts and peaks at #7, when “Combine Harvester” by the Wurzels was #1. I know that one because of my dad, if you haven’t heard that song… you know what, don’t.

“Jolene” was Dolly’s first top 10 over here and ended up re-entering a few times in the 2010s. Before that came many re-imaginings. First, in 1985, we had Glasgow’s Strawberry Switchblade cover the song, in a weird mix of new wave, freestyle and western elements that really show what performative country aesthetics can be, because this has more to do with darkwave than anything from the Deep South. It peaked at #53 and it is terrible. The 2000s is where the covers really ramped up, firstly in 2000 with the #100-peaking cover by London alt-rock outfit Queenadreena. Seemingly not on streaming, it came with their original, “Pretty Polly”, and fully goes into the dark cabaret aesthetic, especially in that... choice of a music video. I think I might prefer it to the original, it makes Jolene sound like an evil woman who I would like to step on me. We also saw a #99 peak for a song in 2007 by folk singer Ray LaMontagne also coincidentally called “Jolene” - it’s not a cover, but it’s a pretty great, tragic narrative ballad if you’re interested. Good accidental discovery to make. My favourite cover of “Jolene”, however, and the only version to get close to Dolly’s original peak until Queen Bey was the version recorded by the garage rock duo, The White Stripes, specifically a 2004 live version that peaked at #16. Now, am I biased because I love Jack White? Yes. Yes, I am, and so does Beyoncé, so shush. Everyone and their mother has covered Dolly, but out of all “Jolene” renditions I’ve heard, Jack just sounds the most devastated, and the eventual crash into distorted, hapless guitars and Meg White’s ugly-ass snares after that rushed, chaotic percussion panned exclusively to the left throughout, is incredibly cathartic. And that’s just the studio version - the live version that charted is even more dire and Jack is downright pathetic on it, worsened by the audience wooing, cheering and clapping on occasion, it eggs on Jolene in a way and publicises his angst “Jolene - Live Under Blackpool Lights” might honestly be one of the greatest cover songs of all time.

So how does Beyoncé fare? Well, she changes a lot of the lyrics to act more as a warning to people attempting to take JAY-Z instead of desperately begging Jolene not to get with JAY-Z, mostly because I don’t think Beyoncé could easily sell being helpless, especially in the context of her husband - we all heard Lemonade. I’m not sure how effectively you can sell the warning shot either considering, well, there was a Becky with some good hair who did all of this a few years ago. Sonically, I’m not head over heels for what sounds like a pretty rote rendition, even if Beyoncé’s vocals and some of the lyrics add a lot of character that simply isn’t in the instrumental. The backing vocal repeating “Jolene” at sporadic intervals, I can’t figure out exactly who it is, probably The-Dream, but he reminds me of Wyclef Jean on “Hips Don’t Lie”. That’s my intellectual observation. I just used a review of a song from the biggest black female country album ever to talk about a guy whose last name is literally White. When she releases a pop punk album, I’ll be more in tune, but for now, leave it to Azealia Banks and Spectrum Pulse, I’m sure if you combined the two, you’d create Frankenstein’s cultural critic.

Conclusion

Fascinatingly enough, this was a great week outside of Beyoncé, who takes away Worst of the Week for “II MOST WANTED” with Miley Cyrus and the Dishonourable Mention for her cover of “JOLENE”. Neither song are terrible, but I think I established in both reviews that my general disinterest for the album doesn’t entirely cover a lot of the flaws I believe are present in these tracks, I’m sorry. Again, I like Beyoncé, just not these particular records. As for the best… oh, God, it’s Camila Cabello’s “I LUV IT” featuring Playboi Carti, isn’t it? Honourable Mention goes to Tyla, Gunna and Skillibeng for “Jump” but I think I’ll have to spend a few days in rehab recovering from picking the other song as my Best of the Week. As for what’s on the horizon, more insufferable discourse as J. Cole drops a surprise diss record. Other than that, Charli XCX links with Gesaffelstein, Benson links with Boone and there’s new tracks from Bryson Tiller, Ava Max and the Imagine Dragons. All of it could chart, none of it could chart, we’ll see. For now, however, thank you for reading, long live Cola Boyy, and I’ll see you next week!

#uk singles chart #pop music #song review #beyonce #cowboy carter #miley cyrus #dolly parton #white stripes #becky hill #camila cabello #playboi carti #tyla #gunna #skillibeng #j-hope #gaeko #yoon mirae

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justinsentertainmentcorner · 4 years

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Chris Morris at Variety, via Yahoo! News:

Eddie Van Halen, whose innovative and explosive guitar playing kept the hard rock band that bore his family name cemented to the top of the album charts for two decades, died on Tuesday morning after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.

Van Halen’s son Wold announced the news. “He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss,” he tweeted.

Born in the Netherlands and raised in Pasadena, he founded Van Halen with his older brother, drummer Alex; the siblings were joined by vocalist David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony in the first recording lineup of the group, which exploded after star-making gigs at such West Hollywood clubs as Gazzarri’s and the Starwood.

It was instantly apparent from “Eruption,” the solo showcase on Van Halen’s self-titled 1978 debut album for Warner Bros., that Eddie Van Halen was an instrumentalist to be reckoned with. In a mere one minute and 42 seconds, the axe man detonated a dazzling display of fretboard tapping, ringing harmonics, lightning-fast licks and smeared, dive-bombing effects.

Writing about that recording in Rolling Stone’s 2015 poll of the 100 greatest guitarists – in which Van Halen placed eighth, between Duane Allman and Chuck Berry – Mike McCready of Pearl Jam wrote, “It sounded like it came from another planet…[I]t was glorious, like hearing Mozart for the first time.”

Acting as the band’s musical director and co-authoring the band’s tough-riffing songs, which straddled the boundary between hard rock and heavy metal, Eddie Van Halen found immediate success, and formulated a style that would be emulated by hordes of long-haired rockers.

The group’s first LP “Van Halen,” though it climbed no higher than No. 19 in the U.S., would ultimately be certified for sales of 10 million copies. Its next five multi- platinum albums all reached the top 10; “1984,” released in its titular year, contained the band’s first and only No. 1 single, the synthesizer-driven “Jump,” and sifted another 10 million units.

Ongoing conflict between the guitarist and the antic front man Roth – who reportedly took exception to Van Halen’s extracurricular work, which included jaw-dropping lead guitar chores on Michael Jackson’s ubiquitous 1983 single “Beat It” — led the singer to split with the act after its elaborate and wildly successful 1984 tour.

Such a defection would likely have split a less popular band, but Van Halenfound even greater sales after ex-Montrose vocalist Sammy Hagar replaced Roth. Between 1986 and 1995, the group released four consecutive No. 1 albums.

However, Hagar ankled Van Halen after a tiff about the group’s planned greatest hits package. Eddie Van Halen brokered a truce with former singer Roth long enough to complete a pair of new tracks with the vocalist for the 1996 collection, but after another wrangle, a planned reunion with the singer broke down, and Gary Cherone, vocalist for the Boston pop-metal unit Extreme, signed on for a single album, “Van Halen III” (1998), which tallied comparatively meager sales.

Eddie Van Halen was dogged by personal and health issues that would intermittently interfere with his work in music over the course of the next decade. A chronic joint problem, exacerbated by his reckless onstage style, forced him to undergo hip replacement surgery in 1999. The onset of cancer – likely the result of heavy smoking – led to the surgical removal of part of his tongue in 2000.

The recording of three songs with Hagar for the two-disc compilation “The Best of Both Worlds” led to a lucrative 2004 reunion tour with Van Halen’s second lead singer. However, the alliance proved to be temporary, and it marked the end of both Hagar’s and bassist Anthony’s association with the group (though they would serve as representatives at the band’s 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, which the Van Halens and Roth declined to attend).

After years of false starts, Van Halen reconvened in 2007 with Roth as the front man and Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie’s 16-year-old son, replacing Anthony on bass. Though a tour grossed more than $90 million, it was plagued by rumors of inter-band strife.

Eddie Van Halen’s escalating drug abuse and alcoholism hastened his 2007 divorce from TV actress Valerie Bertinelli, his wife of 16 years, after a protracted separation. He entered rehab in 2007, and was reportedly sober from 2008.

“I was an alcoholic, and I needed alcohol to function,” he said in a 2015 interview with Chuck Klosterman. “I didn’t drink to party. Alcohol and cocaine were private things to me. I would use them for work. The blow keeps you awake and the alcohol lowers your inhibitions. I’m sure there were musical things I would not have attempted were I not in that mental state.”

A second tour fronted by Roth was launched on a more even keel in 2012, supporting an all-new album on Interscope, “A Different Kind of Truth,” which vaulted to No. 2. However, Eddie’s surgery for diverticulitis forced postponement of shows in Japan, which were among the first international dates since 1984.

Though whispers of further shows would swirl thereafter, Roth opined that “I think Van Halen’s finished” in a September 2019 radio interview in Detroit, just weeks before news of Eddie Van Halen’s treatment for throat cancer surfaced in the press.

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born Jan. 26, 1955, in Amsterdam. His father played the clarinet, saxophone, and piano, and both he and his brother Alex were schooled on the latter instrument from the age of six. They continued their studies after the family moved to Pasadena in 1962.

Though Eddie – who never mastered sight reading — would perform at classical piano recitals, he sought something contemporary and took up the drums, while Alex began playing guitar. The two teenage musicians would ultimately switch off their instruments; Eddie claimed Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, the respective guitar stars of Cream and Led Zeppelin, as his principal inspirations.

After high school years spent in local party bands, the brothers founded a new quartet – which they unwittingly named Genesis, ignorant of the English group’s existence – in 1972 with singer Roth, whose PA system they were renting for gigs, and bassist Mark Stone, who was replaced by Michael Anthony.

An attention-grabbing date at Gazzarri’s on the Sunset Strip by the rechristened Van Halen led to a demo session with Gene Simmons of KISS, who in the end opted out on working further with the band. However, as bassist Anthony recalled at the group’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, the act was signed after Warner Bros. chief executive Mo Ostin and producer Ted Templeman caught the band at a 1977 show at the Starwood.

Produced by Templeman, the band enjoyed a hit run of six albums with Roth as front man. Both “Van Halen II” (1979) and “Women and Children First” (1980) reached No. 6 nationally, while “Fair Warning” (1981) and “Diver Down” (1982) hit No. 5 and No. 3 respectively.

In the wake of the extroverted Roth’s exit and Hagar’s arrival, some anticipated a downturn in Van Halen’s popularity, but the new vocalist’s flair for power balladry and Eddie Van Halen’s still-puissant guitar attack thrust four albums to the sales pinnacle: “5150” (1986), “OU812” (1988), “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” (1991) and “Balance” (1995).

However, the band never found similar chemistry with Cherone, and Van Halen only witnessed renewed life when it regrouped with Hagar and Roth in the new millennium.

Eddie Van Halen is survived by his second wife, the band’s former publicist Janie Liszewski, whom he married in 2009, and his son.

RIP Eddie Van Halen.

#Eddie Van Halen #Van Halen #Music #Obituaries #Wold Van Halen

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northsyria04-blog · 5 years

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Manhattan Yuppies Faceplant Into Farm Life on ABC’s ‘Bless This Mess’

This post originally appeared on April 19, 2019, in “Eat, Drink, Watch” — the weekly newsletter for people who want to order takeout and watch TV. Browse the archives and subscribe now.

Happy Friday. Due to a few important, but slightly tiresome events (The Game of Thrones premiere! The release of the Mueller Report! The Fab Five guys dunking on Antoni for liking the Strokes!) this felt like a really long week. I, for one, am looking forward to coasting into the weekend and watching some TV. If you have similar plans, here are three recommendations for what to watch: a sitcom, a drama, and a late night show.

A refreshingly funny sitcom debut

Lake Bell and Dax Shepard

ABC/John Fleenor

ABC’s new sitcom Bless this Mess takes a tired premise — city slickers moving to the country — and injects it with a giddy energy and enough solid jokes to keep the action interesting. The first episode is one of the most entertaining pilots I’ve seen in a long time, and its success is largely attributed to the many talents of writer, director, producer, and star Lake Bell.

Although Bell is perhaps best known as one of the leads in HBO’s short-lived drama How to Make it in America, in recent years, she’s been flexing her comedy muscles with recurring roles on Comedy Central’s Children’s Hospital and Netflix’s Wet Hot American Summer series. Six years ago, Bell also wrote, directed, and starred in the quirky comedy In A World, about an actress trying to break into the male-dominated field of movie trailer narration. And now, in her sitcom debut, Bell plays Rio, a quick-witted Manhattan therapist who throws her career on the fire to move to Nebraska with her husband Mike (played by Dax Shepard), who recently inherited a dilapidated farmhouse.

As Rio and Mike quickly find out, the house is in dire need of repair, a strange fellow named Rudy (Ed Begley Jr.) lives in a barn in the backyard, and a cattle tycoon (David Koechner) is vying to snatch up the farm and turn into a meatpacking facility. Shortly after arriving in Nebraska, the couple also meets Constance (Pam Grier), the no-nonsense town sheriff who also runs the local hardware store and teaches theater at the high school, among other odd jobs. Rio and Mike’s interactions with the locals further highlight just how little they know about farming and country life in general. But the former Manhattanites want to make it work, and the locals are willing to at least let them settle in before casting too much judgement in their direction.

Armed with a barrage of clever one-liners, the cast has a lot of fun bouncing off each other. In one of my favorite moments of the pilot, Max tries to convince Rio that he’s got what it takes to be a farmer by bragging about his organic shopping abilities. “You’ve seen me at Whole Foods,” he tells her. “I always walk straight up to the right heirloom tomato — I know the best one, I grab it.” I also laughed out loud during a scene where the couple welcomes the cattle herding family into their home by offering them leftover snacks from their trip: gluten-free turmeric crackers and an “ashwagandha hot drink.” And in what is perhaps the silliest moment of the pilot, Rio attempts to scare away an errant cow by telling it, “I’m a child of divorce, alright?”

If Bless This Mess can keep up the energy and snappy jokes, it might prove to be a bright spot on ABC’s sitcom lineup. The pilot is now available to stream on Hulu.com, and new episodes air Tuesday nights at 9:30 p.m.

Streaming recommendations du jour

FX/Fosse/Verdon

Fosse/Verdon

Watch it on: FX, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play

The gist: Like Mad Men, another show about toxic relationships between New York creative types, FX’s new miniseries has a lush production design that evokes Manhattan in the ’60s and ’70s. But what strikes me about this new series is just how unglamorous the lives of these famous New Yorkers look compared to the characters in the ad agency drama.

In the first two episodes, choreographer Bob Fosse (played by Sam Rockwell) has dinner with a Hollywood big shot (Paul Reiser) at a swanky restaurant, actress Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams) takes a business lunch at a picture-perfect Midtown diner, and the stars host a boozy cocktail party in their spacious Manhattan apartment to celebrate the release of his directorial debut. These scenes are all rich with period detail, and yet it’s hard to focus on anything but Bob’s perpetual agitation, and Gwen’s nimble reactions to the chaos unfolding all around her. Like one of the cigarettes that’s always hanging out of Fosse’s mouth, the tension just smolders, slowly throughout the show.

The showbiz world that Fosse and Verdon occupy is fascinating, and both Rockwell and Williams deliver nuanced, magnetic performances. My only issue with this series is that Fosse is such a troubled character at his core — a tap dancing Don Draper, essentially — that it can be hard to stay invested in his creative struggles during his many meltdowns. The Peak TV Era has, I think, reached its saturation point with these kind of incorrigible dudes.

Showtime/Desus & Mero

Desus & Mero, “News Adjacent”

Watch it on: Showtime, Amazon Prime

The gist: The new series from podcasters-turned-YouTube stars Daniel Baker (AKA Desus Nice) and Joel Martinez (AKA the Kid Mero) has a much looser vibe than any other late night show on TV right now. Desus & Mero are so good at casually riffing off each other that you don’t feel like you’re watching a comedy show so much as two pals joking around in front of the TV in their living room.

In addition to commenting on the major news stories of the week, the hosts also survey viral videos and interview a few celebrity guests. Last week’s episode features a crunchy chat with former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, where the politician reveals her secret to cooking perfect grits (add sugar and cream in addition to salt). Desus & Mero also give Pitch Perfect franchise star Anna Kendrick a highly entertaining tour of the Bronx that includes a trip to a strip club, a discussion of Container Store’s rewards program, and a seafood feast at City Island fixture Sammy’s Fish Box.

In other entertainment news…

Have a great Friday evening, and if you’re looking for some weekend reading material, I highly recommend checking out the profiles of the Eater Young Guns Class of 2019.

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Source: https://www.eater.com/2019/4/20/18507844/bless-this-mess-lake-bell-sitcom-dax-shepard

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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cleancutpage · 6 years

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Takeaways – Tomorrow’s Vegas and the Hangover of 2020?!

This post originally appeared on MDL Group's Blog and is republished with permission. Find out how to syndicate your content with theBrokerList.

One of the things I am committed to is capturing my Takeaways from the various events that I attend throughout the year and sharing them. Click here for Previous Takeaways.

I got to NAIOP relatively early the morning of this program. I was excited about the topic, but to be honest, I wasn’t feeling like writing anything about it. I just wasn’t in the mood. After getting some eggs and fruit I set my phone on the table ready to just sit back and listen.

But then something unexpected happened. The way the moderator opened the show compelled me.

His opening statement… “on this morning we are going to have a conversation about the biggest projects being built on Las Vegas Boulevard. Except this time, we get to have the conversation with the guys in the room. Instead of about those guys when they’re not there.”

That nuance got me like ! The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. That elusive genius creatives talk about spoke to me. Ole! I gobbled up the eggs, turned my chair around, grabbed my phone, and started taking notes. There were going to be Takeaways for sure!!!

Thursday, April12th NAIOP Southern Nevada’s breakfast program was titled – “Billion Dollar Projects” featuring panelist representing the biggest and the baddest projects going on in Las Vegas today! The breakfast sponsor Alan Jeskey – AJB General Contractors certainly got their buck’s bang with 228 people in attendance. It’s not surprising tho. Big Projects. Big Attendance. More on that lil innuendo later.

As for the panel… you know you have a good panel when Sallie Doebler leans over and says, “that’s a really good panel!” She would know!

Daryl Quick, Director Design & Construction, Caesars Entertainment Dude that was moderating (he was SO good)

Gerald Gardner, General Counsel and SVP Government Affairs, Resorts World Dude with a big title (rightfully so)

Sam Nicholson, President, Grand Canyon Development Dude building stuff (he built the panel that morning actually)

Bill Allsup, Director, Union Gaming Dude with all the gelt (and all the numbers)

The two main projects discussed were Resorts World (formerly Echelon) and The Drew (formerly Fontainebleau).

I’m going to share some Takeaways from the panelist. And then I am going to rif on some Takeaways that I found interesting. If you want all the ooey gooey details from that morning check out this story by Buck Wargo. He really captured a lot of the discussion.

The first MAJOR Takeaway that morning was from Gerald. He finally put to rest the divisive debate within the community on how to properly pronounce Genting (the Malaysian company building Resorts World). Its with a soft G, as in (g-enting). So the next time you hear Floyd in your Accounting department pronounce Genting as (j-enting), feel free to vigorously correct him like you would if an east-coaster pronounced Nevada as Nev-AH-da. It’s Nevada Ooh Na-Na.

Other interesting items shared is the Resorts World parcel spans 87 acres from Las Vegas Blvd. all the way to Sammy Davis Jr. Dr. The developers are incorporating that in the design for access. There are currently 5 tower cranes on the property and concrete is being poured. The tower floors are up to level 14 of what will eventually be a 3,400 room resort. Expected delivery… 2020!

Sam was up next to talk about The Drew, formerly Fontainebleau. So what are they up to? Anyone else catch how that rhymes? The Drew will have 9 million square feet of enclosed space with 4,000 rooms. Expected delivery… 2020! The current state of the project is that dreadfully expensive stage known as “redesign”. Interestingly, when it was planned just 11 years ago, we didn’t have this little thing in our lives called ride-sharing. The 25 acre site at the north west corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Elvis Presley Blvd. is figuring out how guests will get in and out of the place in an Uber or Lyft if you can imagine that.

Gerald talked about other design considerations critical for properties in “Tomorrow’s Vegas”. Things like attracting foot traffic off the Strip, gamified space for non-monetary gaming, and offering meeting & convention space to not just be a dormitory for the Convention Center.

Bill Allsup then chimed in. His comments were impactful bringing reality to the discussion. Bill brought up how these projects and a few other movements will change the north side of the Strip. There is approximately 10,000 new hotel rooms planned for Las Vegas. How will they be filled – with new visitors or cannibalized revenue from other properties? Money sources are betting it’s the former. And the bet is that new planned attractions like the Raiders, Convention Center, and the Madison Square Garden immersive theater will bring first time visitors.

What do you think? Will Tomorrow’s Vegas successfully reinvent and increase the visitor profile with the north Strip, and gamified space, and immersive theaters and professional sports, and professional e-sports, and meetings and conventions, and new mega resorts? Sounds like a party to me!!

And as we traverse toward Tomorrow’s Vegas will everybody be a winner or will it become survival of the fittest?

Here are some things to watch closely and maybe even have some concern for.

Declared changes in trade policies with China have increased the cost of steel and raw materials. On one hand, this has encouraged the owners who can, to make commitments and buy stuff early. Nothing like getting these big boys pregnant! Those who don’t have the juice to pull this off though will pay a premium later. Now the other hand… increased costs causes developers to innovate and look at what can be prefabricated to bring down labor costs.

The prospect of increased labor costs didn’t much concern the panelist. The availability of labor did! Both on the construction side and when the properties finally open. These multi-billion dollar projects can afford to pay what they need to get the necessary labor to open their projects on time. The concern for the overall community are the ancillary projects that might be on the fringes of viability. Add a little here for material, a little there for labor, and oops some delays increase carrying costs… that cocktail can cause projects not to launch at all. Or worse… fail!

I’m not sure what to make of all this except to reminisce how Yesterday’s Vegas prepared for New Year’s Eve when it changed from 1999 to 2000. First of all Prince’s song, Party Like It’s 1999, played the entire season like Christmas Music. But also the magnificent hoopla about Y2K, the alleged coding bug, that was supposed to wreak havoc on computers and systems across the world. Remember that?! There was all this build up and nothing materialized. Well nothing materialized with the bug anyway. Sorry. I digressed.

Different than the Y2K build up you know some mishegas is going to materialize New Year’s Eve 2020. All these Big Projects will draw Big Attendance. Population will increase along the way. It’s going to be a paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaartay!

But what happens the next morning after the walk of shame? Does Tomorrow’s Vegas rally and keep the party going? Or is there going to be the Hangover of 2020?! Let’s count down and find out together!

RSS Feed provided by theBrokerList Blog - Are you on theBrokerList for commercial real estate (cre)? and Takeaways – Tomorrow’s Vegas and the Hangover of 2020?! was written by Hayim Mizrachi CCIM, MDL Group.

Takeaways – Tomorrow’s Vegas and the Hangover of 2020?! published first on https://greatlivinghomespage.tumblr.com/

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