To add to her boatload of honors, Aretha Franklin received another at the recent TVLand Awards, where she was bestowed with its Music Icon Award by John Legend, and sang a 20 minute set, including “Chain of Fools” and Handel’s “Ombra Mai Fu,” along with some gospel. The awards show airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on … Continue Reading →
Romance can be a powerful drug — even when it’s toxic. Find out when “Love Addiction” debuts at 8 tonight on TV One. The new eight-episode documentary series follows therapists and relationship experts as they attempt to help women and men extricate themselves from destructive relationships with the help of loved ones. Experts include psychologist … Continue Reading →
It doesn’t seem possible that Levon Helm was just in Ann Arbor in late March, playing one of his Midnight Rambles…Helm died Thursday in a New York hospital after his battle with throat cancer took a sudden turn for the worse some weeks ago. I know I need to hunker down and listen to “Music from Big Pink” … Continue Reading →
I squandered many a half hour sitting on the floor, watching Dick Clark’s various late afternoon TV shows on our big console black and white TV — first “American Bandstand,” imitating my older brother’s interest, and later, when I was a more active music consumer myself, “Where the Action Is” in the late ’60s. Funnily enough, despite the … Continue Reading →
Levon Helm, singing drummer extraordinaire of The Band, is entering the final stages of his struggle with cancer, according to a posting on his website levonhelm.com by his wife and daughter. Helm, a founding member of The Band, was diagnosed with throat cancer in the ’90s, but fought his way back and was able to … Continue Reading →
And the award for feel-bad show of the week goes to… HBO’s “Eastbound and Down” has never been a particularly warm and fuzzy viewing experience. Its lead character is a repugnant megalomaniac redneck racist drug addict and a washed-up loser, not that we’re judging anyone here. Despite that, for two seasons we’ve seen Kenny Powers … Continue Reading →
UPDATED (March 8, 10:31 a.m.:) See Pink entry for new information. With Radiohead’s announcement that it will play the Palace June 11, one of Detroit’s longest-running dry spells from a major touring act finally came to a close. But there are other significant holdouts, artists or groups that — for one reason or another — … Continue Reading →
The news that Davy Jones of the Monkees died Wednesday morning of a heart attack, at his Florida home, was sad and unexpected. Saddest for his family of course, but for those of us who grew up in the ’60s, another piece of our pop music universe is gone. Almost as sad was a story I … Continue Reading →
And now, for last night’s episode of “Mean Girls,” er, “Survivor.” Things are going fairly typically for a girls-against-guys “Survivor” competition beginning. For the most part, the guys currently exist as large meat puppets with coconuts for heads. Why? Because they’re winning, so they’re not very interesting. Except for Colton, who is quickly establishing himself … Continue Reading →
I’m guessing the whole 2012 party-at-the-box-office thing comes to a screeching halt this weekend. Not that people will just outright stop going to movies. It just seems doubtful that any records will be broken, along the lines of last week’s four $20 million debuts. Why? Look at the offerings: * “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” … Continue Reading →